CEO PULSE: A grim picture for Gillard

It's not game playing in parliament. It's not clever use of social media. It's not a debate about sideshow issues. It's not about driving trucks for the TV cameras or about spoofs regarding the world's end.

It's all about doing the hard yards and "not about dividing the pie, but growing the pie”. Australia needs to be more competitive, adaptive, flexible and productive.

CEOs are lamenting the lack of progress in the development of technology or higher skills in our workforce.

Business Spectator's latest CEO Pulse survey shows they are worried about Australia's political leadership.

Julia Gillard's character has been directly questioned, and she has been attacked for her role in the AWU saga. Tony Abbott has been urged to rise above gutter politics and articulate a long-term vision centred on productivity.

The survey – while it involves relatively small numbers – provides a persistently grim picture for the current government.

While Wayne Swan talks endlessly about Australia's economic positioning compared with his G20 peers and others, the CEO's give him 3.3 out of 10 for economic management – and this is an improvement on the number given just last quarter!

Only a third of respondents thought the economy was in good shape. Some 45 per cent thought it was bad. As for the future, well 71 per cent say unemployment will be higher at this time next year and 69 per cent say government debt will be higher.

I wonder if that's the message that comes from government, or whether it's the messenger.

Naturally, CEOs see China and Asia as the best prospect for Australian growth and progress. Memo Gillard, Swan, Crean and Emerson: re-engage with the business community on the Asian Century white paper – not with more speeches, but with trade missions, one-on-one meetings and the like.

But the real message from this survey is that 80 per cent believe the Coalition is the best party to manage the economy – and almost the same number says the Coalition is the best party for their company and their industry.

So it's not news to discover that 81 per cent expect a Coalition victory at next year's election.

Thus we get the advice to the next prime minister, Tony Abbott: articulate what you stand for, concentrate on being a viable alternative, commit to a consistent, comprehensive policy portfolio and – gratuitously – address your image concerns.

All this tells us nothing totally unexpected. A survey of female bloggers may produce a slightly different result!

But it reminds Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott that at its core, government is tasked centrally with coming to grips with the big nation-building issues. Its job is policy – not politics. Do the first right, and the second will take care of itself.

Research design and analysis for the CEO Pulse survey was conducted by GA Research and fieldwork by AFS. The sample comprised 85 CEOs of organisations with an Australian turnover of $100 million or more who opted to participate in a five minute survey conducted over the phone or online between Monday 26 November, 2012 and Sunday 9 December, 2012.